Dyersville, Ia. – Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said today he doesn’t believe Penn State University’s football team should play in a bowl game this season in the wake of the child sex abuse scandal involving a former coach that has rocked the school.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum

Santorum received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Penn State in 1980 and later represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate. He told reporters during a stop in northeast Iowa on his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination that the scandal has been a “gut punch” for all Penn State supporters.

The Nittany Lions football team, which has an 8-2 record, is eligible for a post-season bowl game, but Santorum said he thinks the players should stay home, even though some would be disappointed.

“I am not too sure if I was on a bowl committee I would be too anxious about inviting Penn state to a bowl game given the situation up there,” Santorum said. “I think it would probably be best to take a pass on a bowl game this year. it is a tough thing for the kids, but this is way beyond the football team right now. I would make the suggestion that it would be in the best interests of everybody to finish the schedule and put this season behind us and move on.”

Santorum said Penn State’s scandal reminds him of the 1919 Chicago “Black Sox” scandal, which resulted in eight members of the Chicago White Sox being banned for life for intentionally losing games. He said he was reminded of the Black Sox story because Dyersville is where the baseball movie, “Field of Dreams,” was made.

He said he thought of Shoeless Joe Jackson, a banned White Sox player and the well-known refrain, “Say it ain’t so, Joe.”

Santorum said fired Penn State coach Joe Paterno had campaigned for him several times in the past and he knows a couple of Paterno’s children.

Since the scandal developed, Santorum said he has been undergoing “group therapy” with every Penn State supporter he encounters, including people who have been approaching him in airports.

“They just want to talk about it because they are so hurt by it. It is so personal. You feel so betrayed that something like this could happen,” Santorum said.